Arriving in Los Angeles, America with not the slightest idea of where to go, what I am doing, and the fear that I have just made a huge mistake, was one of the scariest times of my entire life. But, I survived, and then thrived! To think that 9 months later I am still traveling. Looking back on it now makes me feel the proudest I have ever felt.

Then, of course, there have been the absolutely incredible people I have met along the way, many of whom I have remained great friends with. Not to mention how cool it is to now have friends from literally all over the world too. There was Vincent from Holland, Isabel from Portugal, Mardy from Taiwan, Chris from Switzerland and Clare from Taiwan, and just so, so many more. They made this year, and trip, truly memorable.

But above all else, this year was all about following dreams and overcoming challenges.

The day I arrived in New York City was one of the greatest days of my life for it signified so much to me. As I type this now, I am actually sitting in the offices of where I work, in the heart of New York City, and I even somehow got lucky enough to have accommodation in the heart of the city too! This was exactly what I had dreamed of doing all along, and to think that I have actually achieved just that and more is... pretty special.

This is the year that I will look back on for the rest of my life as an insight into how great life can when I am not afraid to take risks, a reminder of what I am capable of (often being far more than I ever imagined), and the starting point of a completely different life path due to all the friends I've made and lessons learned, a life path I certainly wouldn't be on now if it wasn't for this year.

Now, I guess there is only one two things left to do. Firstly, to finish off this trip and return back home to Australia, see all my friends and family again whom I miss so very much, and relax for a while. And secondly, well it is obvious isn't it? With this dream now complete, it is time to get to work on the next, even bigger one!

24 December 2012

I'll be honest here. I really do not have the slightest clue on how I
am doing this trip, and how the things that happen to me actually
happen. I plan hardly anything, and when I do it is always last-minute
and never ever goes to plan anyway... but alas it seems that this trip
certainly still has plenty of surprises left.

Let me begin.

Back during my stay with a family in Bellingham, Washington state for HelpX
(the program where you work in exchange for room and food) I mentioned
that I was to be heading to New York City soon. They in turn informed me
that they have a good family friend who lives there, one who they were
sure would be happy to offer their spare room to me for a few days free
of charge. They emailed the friend, they replied, everything got
organized, and a few days ago now I arrived in my free accommodation...
which happens to be on the 15th floor of an apartment in the very heart
of Manhattan...wow!

Here are some shots from my window:

6th Avenue down below. I really love this city.

Same window, just looking to the left now

Oh yeah... did I mention if I stick my head out the window and look down the street, I can see the Empire State Building? Ha!

To make things even better, Tammy (the lady who owns
the apartment) is away for the next five days, so not only do I get to
stay in her place for free, I now get the place to myself! After months
of hostels, friends couches, and HelpX accommodation stays where I had
to work quite hard, the opportunity for five days of my own bed, own
room, and peace and quiet, is more welcomed than you could possibly
imagine.

This is easily one of the greatest, luckiest
things that has ever happened to me. Ever. Hostels are expensive in NYC,
and after traveling for such a long time now the less money I spend the
better, but the best thing of all is the chance to relax and see the
city at a pace and convenience I never thought I'd ever get. Cool.

Determined
not to let the five days of freedom and stability pass me by, I set out
to see as much of the city as I could, making the most of the brilliant
location of the apartment. Oh yeah, it happened to be Thanksgiving the
following day too, which meant the city was extremely busy, and the annual Thanksgiving's Parade too, woo!

The city is even more busy than usual on Thanksgivings Day!

Yes! I got to see Spongebob Squarepants! My trip is now complete.

Micky Mouse has let himself go over the years it appears... check out that beer gut haha!

I've officially stepped foot in the famous Times Square

I really like this shot

Found the Rockefeller Center ice ring. Very cool.

Stumbled across this store! Easily a highlight of my day to find this!

New York City Public Library

Grand Central Station

Madison Square Garden. It was amazing.

With the
streets closed due to the parade, it allowed me to experience an
extremely rare phenomenon... a New York City street completely void of
people and cars. I really felt lucky for this simple fact to be honest.

The Empire State Building from afar

The Chrysler Building

The iconic Flatiron Building

I knew when I
saw it during the day that I just had to return again at night. So at
midnight, that's what I did. And it was awesome.

And that's what I did... on only my first day of 5
actually! It was a long day, but with only a limited time in the this
dream city of mine I am determined to push myself and make the absolute most of it before it is time to move on again.

19 December 2012

It's day two here in New York City, and after spending my first day at the Museum of Natural History (which
already is counted as one of the highlights of my entire trip) I was
lucky enough to stumble my way out of my hostel (due to another night of
jet lag) to find the bluest of skies. Win!

The hostel I
am staying at is not only close to the Museum of Natural History, but
is also less than a block away from Central Park, my destination for the
day of course.

Wow, Central Park. I used to have a
picture of this place on my wall for years, the dream being to one day
be here in person so I can take my own pictures of it. With my trusty
iPhone 4 in tow I think I managed to pull off some pretty awesome shots,
while calming enjoying the beautifully crisp morning air and
unbelievably spectacular atmosphere around me.

Without further ado I'd like to share with you through photography the accomplishment of one of my longest held life goals:

My favourite shot I think

Simply magic.

I
pondered deeply while walking through this park, just being here feels
like an illusion, something that I will wake up from at any moment, to
find myself back in my bed back home in Australia. Although until I do
wake up from it I guess I can play along with the illusion a little
longer. Despite it being the last week of Autumn the weather was
temperature was perfect, although not quite warm enough for t-shirts and
a picnic. I imagined how full and alive this park would be during the
Summer months, to just chill out on the lawns and park benches, an
ultimate escape from the relentless bustle of the city streets just out
of view.

It looks like I'll have to return some day in the future during a warmer time.

After
the park it was already well past mid-afternoon, and what better way to
round off what had already started of as an extremely awesome day then
to visit for the second day in a row the Museum of Natural History! My
time spent there the previous day was simply no where near enough, not
to mention what a great way it is to have a relaxing afternoon. Even on
this second visit it continued to amaze and surprise me.

04 December 2012

After a ridiculous nights sleep (jet lag...) after arriving the day before,
I was somewhat ready to tackle New York City first thing in the
morning! I had actually made it to New York City! Simply put, it was
awesome. Considering the amount of time remaining on this trip before I
planned to return home I figured I had about 7 days, perhaps 10, to
spend here before having to move on. Let's hope that that is enough
time!

I kind of don't know what words to write to be
honest, without sounding like a terribly broken record, constantly
repeating things
along the lines of "wow I can't believe I'm here!" so... I will keep
text to a minimum and let the pictures do most of the talking.

Stepping out of my hostel on 88th St on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Very cool indeed.

It
may or may not have been a coincidence that my hostel just happened to
be just around the corner from one of my most must-see places on my
entire trip; the Museum of Natural History!

The Museum of Natural History. Here in the flesh at long last.

It is no surprise that I enjoy museums, in fact every
single major city I have been to on this entire trip I have made sure
to visit their main museum attraction. I was trying to think of which
has been my favourite one so far... but I can't decide, either way this
museum's reputation is without a doubt well deserved... it was truly
amazing.

I'm In!

Immediately upon buying my tickets I signed up for the free walking
tour offered. Best. Time. Ever. The tour guy was simply awesome, and
over the following two hours he explained in amazing detail and
creativity about half of what the museum had in store (the place is
massive, you can't get through it in only two hours). Wow what fun it
was, to soak in so much knowledge about a huge variety of topics.

My
first (and favourite room) was the Haydon Room, which highlighted
the size scale of objects throughout our world and universe from the astronomical (galaxies and
stars), to the classical (buildings on Earth, us humans), to the atomic
level(virus strains, atoms) and everything in between. It was simply brilliant.

Focusing on the astronomical scale

This is a to scale representation of the solar system, with that huge sphere on the left our sun.

All the way down to the atomic scale!

The huge sphere you saw in the image wasn't just used
as a scaled version of the sun, but was used throughout the entire room
as a reference point of size. Sometimes it represented the size of the
sun, other times the size of Earth, a rain drop, a strain of virus, and
even down to the size of a Hydrogen atom, all to help you better
visualize the astronomical, classical, and atomic scale. Amazing.

I spent quite some time in that room.

Below are some other random shots throughout my wanderings.

A real asteroid. It weighed something like 44 tonnes, and the floor beneath it had to be reinforced to support its weight.

One of the
worlds largest, and oldest, ever trees. Sadly of which was cut down in I
think the 1930's. I believe from memory it was around 2000 years old.
Amazing.

Of particular brilliance was the Oceanography room,
consisting of extremely detailed and varied array of information and
diagrams of everything from marine life, to the life cycle of the
oceans, its ecosystems, and so much more. Not to mention what I
thought was one of the most impressive items of the entire museum...
the gigantic sized Blue Whale model hanging from the ceiling... wow!

Entering the oceanography room... I was in awe before I even stepped through the door

How cool is that! Believe me it is even more impressive in person, the thing was absolutely huge and highly detailed.

And of course whenever I'm in a museum, if I'm not in the Astronomy room, you'll find me in the Archeology section.

We
spent I think 40 minutes in these rooms whilst on the tour, the guide
had amazing knowledge and facts at his disposals. Every few steps we
would stop, this was by far the most informative tour I've ever been on,
I loved it.

Oh yeah, fun fact! Because, as I've always said, this blog is both entertaining and educational!

So
have you ever wondered what actually classifies something is, or is
not, a 'dinosaur'? Of course you have! Now sure, if you are asked 'what
is a dinosaur' you will (hopefully) be able to name a few, or identify
them from a picture of course... but how is a dinosaur classified as a
dinosaur and not as a mammal, or reptile, or something else? Well,
thanks to the awesome tour guide, I now know that answer! And now you
will too!

Have a look at this picture below:

This
depicts a hip joint of a dinosaur, and this spot here is exactly how archeologists classify a fossil as a dinosaur, and it seemed like a
remarkably simple method considering we are dealing with the complexity
that is evolution over millions of years. You'll notice that the end of
the leg bone sits inside a completely hollowed out area of the hip bone,
and you can imagine that as the dinosaur walks, this would rotate in
this socket thus allowing for angled movement. When you compare this kind of hip-to-leg joint structure to other animals, they (including us humans)
do not have a completely hollowed out hip bone joint. We mammals for instance
have a spherical cut out within our hip joint that the top of our leg
bone sits in, but this cut out does not go all the way through however.

See the image below of a human hip joint below for clarity:

This
subtle different is what helps class what as a dinosaur and
what is not. Very cool! Well I thought so at least. By using that method
of classification, it also means that modern day birds are in fact dinosaurs,
for their hip joint matches the criteria I briefly described above,
meaning that birds have been around since the dinosaurs, with the last dinosaurs roaming over
65 million years ago. Interesting stuff!

And I guess that concludes my Museum of Natural history visit. Above was a
very small handful of the photos I took, because really you could take
a thousand and still have rooms left to explore, but alas I shall move
on. Although this basically concludes my first day in New York City as well, with my remaining time rounded out with some dinner and reading at the
hostel. And wow, was an amazing day it was. I've always been a huge fans
of museums, whether it be about science, nature, space, visiting one has always
been ranked highly on my must-see places, and I can gladly and willingly
spend an entire day in one, with this one in particularly being on eof the best I have ever been to yet.

About Me

I am mature, wise, and responsible. Hmm, scratch that. I am young, crazy and erratic. I have recently returned from 1 year spent traveling America, with travel being my biggest passion.
On this blog is anything that enters my life or mind, a running documentary of achievements, events, worries, thoughts, dreams and plans, both short and long-term.
I also love blogs.